“I can hardly imagine life without the University for Older Adults,” said Liu Shuqin, a 62-year-old student of the university, part of the Open University of China (OUC). She signed up for a calligraphy class recently, after having finished a painting class. “I plan to get enough credits to obtain a diploma. You're never too old to learn!”
In October 2021, a book published by the Open University of China Press (OUC Press) entitled Beyond Distance Education: Cutting-Edge Perspectives on the Future of Global Open Universities received a lot of attention from higher education institutions in the UK and has been added to the libraries of several universities.
On 6 April 2021, the UNESCO Paris Headquarters declared that the “One College Student Per Village” programme from the People’s Republic of China implemented by the Open University of China (OUC) will be awarded the 2020 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education (abbreviated as the UNESCO prize for the use of information and communication technologies in education).